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| October 14, 2005 | Friday | Ramzan 9, 1426 |
It’s devastation all around in Garhi Habibullah
GARHI HABIBULLAH, Oct 13: Standing close to the main gate of his collapsed house in a neighbourhood with collapsed houses and shops, Rafiq Ahmed is in a state of shock after finding no trace of his family on returning from Karachi.
“After hearing the news (of the earthquake) in Karachi, I rushed back to my home only to find no trace of my family,” said Rafiq with tears in his eyes.
He was clueless about the whereabouts of his family as the locality had been abandoned by all its inhabitants.
Houses on both sides of the narrow street, now filled with rubble, in this old city of Garhi Habibullah had been flattened.
“Where will I locate them as all of my relatives have also left?” wondered the worried man who wanted to be with his family in this pressing time. His daughter died after their house caved in as a result of the strong tremors.
The old city of Garhi Habibullah and the majority of its newly-established extensions wore a deserted look as all single- and double-storied structures had totally collapsed. Few houses were left intact while some others which had been partially damaged had become too dangerous for living.
Situated at a distance of some 13 kilometres from Balakot — the scene of major destruction as a result of the deadly tremors — Garhi Habibullah too was hit badly as houses, official buildings and infrastructure of the old city had been completely destroyed.
Nazir-ul-Islam, the station house officer (SHO) of Thana Garhi, said that some 500 dead have so far been counted in Garhi Habibullah alone. The police estimate that the final tally of dead in the jurisdiction of the union council Garhi Habibullah would stand well over a 1,000.
“The total figure of the dead will be extremely high as we have as yet not received any information from the villages situated on the surrounding hills,” said the police official. According to him, Bagaah, Gul Mera, Lus Hatyan, Jabbi, Sugdaar and Batora villages are said to have experienced a severe blow leaving hundreds of people dead as they got trapped under the rubble.
“The situation in Batora, Gul Mera and Bagaah villages is said to be very critical. However, we don’t have any means to reach the affected areas,” said the SHO.
The buildings of the civil hospital, Government Higher Secondary School for Boys, Government High School for Girls and police station (Thana Garhi) of Garhi Habibullah are among thousands of structures that were flattened because of the strong tremors.
More than 250 schoolgirls are believed to have been buried alive under the collapsed structure of the Government High School for Girls. At least 10 schoolboys died at the boy’s school and an unknown number of people, including female patients, were killed after being trapped in the rubble of the civil hospital.
This correspondent saw a pile of school bags lying on a table in the Government School for Girls. School bags could also be seen lying on desks in two classrooms which withstood the jolts. However, their roofs, made of asbestos sheets had been torn down.
A retired senior army officer from the area said that few schoolgirls managed to escape seconds before the structure of the building was flattened.
People of the area demanded that the government should hold an inquiry regarding the collapsing of official buildings because they caused major destruction in terms of loss of human lives.
Mohammed Iqbal, watchman of the civil hospital, said that a number of female patients were present in the emergency ward and at least nine children with their attendants were waiting to be vaccinated at the Expanded Programme on Immunization Centre when the double-storied building caved in on Saturday. Their bodies have not been recovered as yet from the rubble.
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